Chapter 28
“I’ll Leave His Majesty’s Help as a Last Resort”:
And the next day.
“…Did I do something wrong?”
Feeling as if she were being scolded for some reason, Anette wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.
Even so, a pair of sparkling, star-like eyes remained fixed on her face.
It was the Crown Prince, Mikhail, watching her.
When Anette had shown her strength, his fearful, wide-eyed expression had vanished in just a few days since arriving in the empire.
‘Still… I’m not used to being looked at like this.’
Yesterday, Grand Duke Harzent had stared at her persistently, but this gaze carried an entirely different weight.
“Um… Your Highness, Crown Prince…”
“So… you’re really an adult? Really, really?”
“Yes…”
They had already asked and answered this question at least fifty times.
Yet the young prince, seemingly tireless, opened his mouth wide again, covering it with his hand.
Despite feeling slightly exhausted from the repetition, Anette couldn’t help but smile.
“Are you that amazed?”
“Yes! I’m really, really amazed!”
With bright eyes and flushed cheeks, Mikhail looked exactly like an eight-year-old child.
Though his initial attempt to act mature had been cute, Anette preferred this genuine, childlike reaction.
‘This is definitely the normal response.’
It had been the others who overreacted to her situation all along.
Yet even as she thought this, Anette herself was amazed by Mikhail.
That powerful, extraordinary force that could topple a tree without lifting a finger—it was the very ability the boy possessed.
〈Yesterday’s incident was caused by a royal power. You may have guessed that already.〉
That morning, the Emperor, Empress, and Grand Duke Harzent visited Anette and explained the events at the garden in detail.
Anette had already suspected that the incident might involve the powers of the Alkan royal family.
A force that manifests when the empire is in crisis. Such powers were rarely revealed officially, given the empire’s strength, so she had only been able to make vague guesses.
Hearing that Mikhail had awakened recently and still could not fully control his powers, Anette nodded.
And at that, she thought the explanation had already revealed enough confidential information to a witness.
〈My power is related to time.〉
〈…Excuse me?〉
〈I cannot control all the time in this world, but I can manipulate the time of a specific space or person. I can reverse it or make one minute flow like a year, or ten years pass in a single minute.〉
Lucius spoke calmly, as if discussing something trivial, even though it was far from ordinary. Anette paused, taken aback.
She had never wanted to know the Emperor’s power.
Yet soon, she realized his intention.
〈So… Your Majesty, are you saying you could accelerate my time to restore my original body?〉
〈Yes. If you trust me and extend your hand briefly.〉
Lucius said he wanted to repay yesterday’s favor. For Anette, some doubts were resolved, while others arose.
She had worried that her body might never return to its original form and could not understand the Emperor and Empress’ calm demeanor.
Now she realized that they had been calm because they already knew how to restore her body.
Still, it was strange that they had not mentioned it.
‘Perhaps they simply didn’t want to reveal their power…’
But it felt like there was more to it than that.
The Emperor had been kind and favorable to her from the beginning, offering great consideration and care.
Though she had met him only recently, he seemed gentle by nature.
There had to be a reason he did not step forward immediately.
A certain image flashed through Anette’s mind: Mikhail unexpectedly falling asleep, the Emperor catching him as if anticipating it, and the Grand Duke reassuring her.
〈Could it be… that there are limitations to using this power? Conditions required for activation, perhaps?〉
The question slipped out, and Anette noticed Lucius’ expression stiffen slightly.
He looked genuinely surprised, as if he had never imagined she would ask.
‘That is…’ Lucius hesitated, then nodded.
〈Yes. In fact, a royal’s power is based on the user’s life force.〉
Anette was even more shocked than before.
Lucius quickly reassured her that life force did not directly equate to lifespan.
It could be restored through rest, meals, and sleep, and the royal family’s exceptional strength and recovery made overexertion rare.
He revealed that powers grow stronger with use, and the more skillfully they are controlled, the less life force is consumed. He even shared that he had used his power to reverse the time of himself, Charlotte, and the Empress Dowager.
Having heard all this, Anette responded:
〈I understand what you’ve explained.〉
〈Then…〉
〈I will leave His Majesty’s help as a last resort.〉
Lucius’ eyes widened.
He had expected Anette to request the immediate use of his power, but she had refused.
It was not hard to guess that her reason was to avoid consuming his life force.
Even though he had said it would not directly affect his lifespan and could be managed with rest, the princess had already discerned the truth.
As Lucius had suspected, she understood that accelerating her time to restore her adult body would consume far more life force than reversing the time of the Empress or Empress Dowager.
Currently, she was twenty-four years old, but she appeared—unfortunately for her—as an eight-year-old.
It was unnecessary to restore her full age, but she needed at least to appear near adulthood, around eighteen. She realized that accelerating ten years of time in one go could not be safely done with mere rest or sleep.
Lucius felt slightly awkward. He had shared his powers not to probe her, but to offer a way to repay her favor. He would not have considered her request selfish, even if it reduced his lifespan.
He tried to persuade her, but Anette was resolute.
〈I am not entirely refusing the Emperor’s help. I am simply willing to endure temporary inconvenience until the Grand Duke’s mage produces results.〉
She thought the method Kardin mentioned might not rely solely on the Emperor’s power.
If it did, there would have been no need to bother with the royal mage and collect her blood.
Anette quietly looked at Kardin, sitting calmly by her side.
〈If that is the princess’s wish, I am in agreement.〉
Kardin said nothing more. He neither opposed her choice to avoid the Emperor’s help nor actively supported waiting for the mage’s method.
His behavior, respecting only Anette’s will, reminded her of his previous advice to “do as you wish,” and she felt her cheeks warm slightly.
At that moment, she was still uncertain if her choice was correct.
She noticed that, like Kardin, the Empress and Charlotte appeared quietly relieved.
Only then did she feel assured that her decision was not wrong.
The only one left displeased was the Emperor himself.
Yet Anette’s reasoning—wanting to understand the cause and solution—was logical, and Lucius reluctantly yielded.
He attached a condition:
〈Very well. But we cannot indefinitely delay the political marriage. If a solution is not found within three months, I will use my power.〉
Anette hesitated, unwilling to reduce the Emperor’s life force, but she could not argue that three months was too short.
Originally, she was supposed to hold the marriage within a month of arriving in the empire.
The Alkan royal family had already planned to send a letter of complaint and gifts regarding the lack of proper escort upon her arrival.
Delaying the marriage indefinitely would risk breaking the alliance.
Thus, she agreed: if her problem was not resolved within three months, she would accept the Emperor’s power.
As Anette recalled the morning’s conversation, she was once again startled by Mikhail’s sparkling gaze still fixed on her.
